Hope
by Erin or Lindsay
Summary: Preach is hurt and no one knows the pain Dalton is feeling towards his best friend better than Jaz. Post 1x13


This silence, one that was only filled with sounds of the machines helping Preach, was one of the worst sounds Jaz had ever heard. Usually McG couldn't shut up, bickering with at least one of them. But right now he couldn't find any words. Not even the sound of Amir muttering a prayer had ticked him off enough to make a noise.

Top hasn't moved a muscle or made a sound since he sat himself next to the bed. His hand still resting on top of Preach's, waiting some some type of movement. Or waiting for someone to wake him up from this nightmare. All they were tasked to do was find this little girl. And now Patricia was here when she shouldn't have been and Preach is in a coma. His team was falling apart and there was nothing he could do about it. The tears were burning in all of their eyes. This wasn't supposed to happen. None of this was supposed to happen. So why did it? Why was Preach in a coma with the deputy director down the hall?

"McG can you grab some lunch for us?" From her spot behind Dalton, she gave them both a look in attempt to get them out of there for a minute or two. "And Amir do you think you could check in with Hannah? Just to see what's going on."

Both men took one look at their captain and stepped out of the room. McG mumbled something about checking on Patricia. Jaz knew that talking to Hannah was something Amir absolutely needed at the moment, even if he didn't want to admit it. And she was grateful that for once McG took a hint. Because Adam can't take his eyes off Preach, off that stupid tube and all the machines.

"What's going on in there Top?" Her voice was soft, something that rarely happened. But she knew that was something that would pull him out of his daze. Or at least she thought. Because his eyes still haven't moved, his head however, was shaking slightly.

Adam's mouth open and closes a couple times before he actually manages to get words out. "We're supposed to go home soon." He pauses for a second, swiping his tongue across his bottom lip. "We're getting rotated out in a week, a week and a half, and now this happens. And I can't help but wonder if we just let Hoffman go, that maybe we wouldn't be here right now."

"If it wasn't us, then it would've been someone else. That's always how this stuff works."

"I get that Jaz, but Hoffman had no business with Preach. His vendetta was with Patricia, and he took out a good man for nothing." Jaz watched him take one hand away from Preach, only to flex it into a fist.

She scoffed, shaking her head slightly. "Hoffman? Is that where you went?" His eyes slid closed as a sigh. "I- We were trying to get you on comms and we couldn't reach you. And then Noah said it was pinging at the hanger but there was no sign of you."

"Someone had to deal with it."

"I was pacing in the OR waiting room because I couldn't stop thinking that you were going to be rolled in here half-dead too!"

That was the one thing that got Dalton's eyes off Preach. He could tell she was pissed. She was almost shaking with how mad she was. "Jaz I'm okay." And after a second, his eyes went back to watch his friend.

Jaz inhaled deeply, running both hands down her face. The tears have been burning in her eyes for hours, but she couldn't let them fall just yet. Instead, she gently clasped Adam's shoulder, thumbing rubbing small circles through his tee. "I was scared that you were going to end up like this too."

He doesn't let her know, but he heard the catch in her voice. He also knows that that never happens to her. The last time it did, well that was the night Elijah died. So he did the only thing he could, he covered her hand that was still on his shoulder with his own hand. Squeezing his fingers around hers to let her know he's still here before it goes back down to Preach's.

Minutes pass before either of them speak again. "Jazzy," His voice was barely above a whisper. "What if he doesn't make it? What if he never wakes up?"

Adam can hear her sigh. "This is Preach we're talking about." Jaz's hand slid across the top of his shoulder until it was resting on the nape of his neck. Her fingers ran through his hair, her nails lightly racking against his skin. "I know exactly how you're feeling right now. Seeing your best friend go down like that, it breaks you. Now, Preach, he's still here. The doctors are hopeful that once his body heals enough he'll wake up. Hope, Top. That is one thing that I never got with Elijah."

"But there's a chance that he doesn't wake up. God, Jaz I don't know that I'll do." His hand scratched through his beard. "Gabby and the girls, they don't deserve to be left alone. They didn't sign up for this." Jaz's eyes moved from the man under her hand to the one in the bed, remembering all the times that she spoke with the kids. "Oh god, I need to call Gabby. She needs to know, she's gonna want to come out."

"Nah, Top don't worry about it. I had Hannah patch me through earlier to her. She knew right away something was wrong, but she lost it when I said he was in a coma." The patterns she was tracing along his collar stopped. "I've made that call before, to Elijah's dad, but hearing Gabby like that. I barely hung up before I broke down."

His head turned to look up at her, his hair brushing against her arm when he does. "I wish it was me." Dalton's voice barely above a whisper. But Jaz heard it, loud and clear.

"Shut up."

"I'm serious." When her eyes met his, she knew he was. And that might have scared her more than anything else. "Preach, he's got three girls at home. He's got Gabby. He has a whole life full of people who love him. And I'm the team leader, I was supposed to protect him, protect all of you."

"So because he is a dad and a husband, and you aren't, then you deserve to be fighting for your life?" She wouldn't stop shaking her head, trying to shake his words out. "Jesus, you really think that you don't have people who would be wrecked if something happened to you? I would, I would be a complete wreck. Top, _Adam._ You have so many people who care about you. The team, and ops, Patricia pretty much thinks of you as a son. And me… I care about you more than you know. So don't say that. I love Preach, and I am hurting just seeing him like this, but God Adam if it were you I'd have lost my mind." Her voice is basically a whisper by the end, not knowing if she had crossed that line they had been toeing at for the past couple months.

She lets that thought sink into his mind, that someone out in the world actually cares about him. She lets herself get distracted by the sound of the machines in the room. Until that sound is drowned out by something else. Sniffs and huffs of breath. And as much as Jaz wished it was Preach, she knew exactly who it was coming from.

"Adam." His body is shaking from the force of these emotions. Jaz can't remember the last time she's seen Dalton cry, which means this is probably a built up breakdown from everything that the team's been through this tour– Elijah's death, her kidnapping, and now this.

But it physically hurts her more to see Adam in this much pain. So that line they've been so carefully toeing gets crossed, because damn professionalism when your best friend is in a coma. Carefully, Jaz sits in Dalton's lap, giving him the comfort they both need.

As soon as they touch, Jaz feels his face in the crook of her neck and Adam frees his arm from Preach to wrap around her waist. The hot tears that are finally coming through burn against her skin.

"Everything's going to be okay, Top, I promise." Her breath is soft against his forehead. She lets her lips touch his forehead, her hand finding its way into his hair again.

McG and Amir are in the doorway with smirks but with a shake of her head she sends them away. She knows Dalton, and she knows an audience is the last thing he needs right now. So they stand guard at the door, not letting anyone through unless necessary.

"I guess this is really pushing that line we've been watching." Her voice is barely above a whisper. Dalton hasn't moved in the 15 minutes that his breathing has evened out, so there was a possibility that he was finally sleeping. But why would he be? The man never does anything reasonable.

"Preach always was pushing us together." His lips brush against the skin on Jaz's neck as he spoke.

"I talked to Patricia and I've been talking to Hannah and Noah. Top I'm trying to get us rotated out earlier so we can stay with Preach. I know you don't want to leave him, none of us do."

She thinks she feels the slight shape of a smile from him. "Always thinking, Jazzy."

Dalton falls asleep, one arm still wrapped around Jaz's waist and the other resting on top of Preach's and Jaz's cheek rests against the top of Dalton's head.

McG catches her eye through the window holding up some food. She gives him a soft smile and motions for them to come in. "Something you wanna tell us Jazzy?" You can practically hear the smirk in his voice but he keeps it to a whisper because none of them can remember the last time Top actually slept.

"Shut up." But the one thing that she is certain of, is that this is something that was bound to happen. And she it's something that is good for both of them.


End file.
